Emu XL-7 & MP-7 User's Group

Hi everyone. A friend of mine wants to trade his 505 for my XL-7 (plus cash). I have a couple of questions.

 I'm assuming that some of you are 505 expatriates. Has anyone used both units with SonarXL? Any advantages? Does one unit work better with Sonar than the other?  Alos, I'm running a Boss dr-202. Will it 'fit' better with the Roland or does it even make a difference? 
 I know the 505 has hardware limitations (no expansion, shitty presets, etc). As stand-alone, does anyone have opinions about the machines vs. each other? I do like the sexy part-mixer on the 505, but I also like my 16 tracks on the XL, not mention the USB. 

 Thanks in advance, Brian

Brian,

Why trade your XL-7 for a MC505?  I've been using the 505 for almost 
five years now and, although I love it and it's the center of my 
setup, I'm going to trade it in for the XL-7.  I agree that the mixer 
section of the 505 is nice and I think that the pattern editing 
features are more robust (at the moment) but the 505 has several 
serious shortcomings when compared to the XL-7.  

The XL-7's 16 tracks (vs 8 on the MC505) is a big advantage for me, 
as are the expansion capabilities of the XL-7.  The presets on the 
505 are tired, and even though the synth engine is deep, there are 
severe limitations to the kinds of sounds you can come up with.  So 
many of the 505's base wave forms are crap (running water, scratching 
sounds, shouts) that they will never be of any use.  I have created 
over 200 user patches on the 505, but I'm starting to run into a 
wall.  If the 505 had expansion capabilities and 16 tracks, I 
wouldn't consider switching but, as it stands, I'm going for an XL-7.

I also like the flexibility of the XL-7.  On the 505, you can't 
select which MIDI channel will be used on a track - it's hard coded 
to midi channels 1-7 for track 1-7 respectively.  This becomes a 
serious problem when you want to use the 505 to trigger samples on 
your sampler.  I also like the fact that the XL-7 can address 32 midi 
channels.  The 505's mega-mix capability is nice, but I find I never 
use it.  The 505's song mode is horrible - absolutely useless.  Also, 
Roland's product support is crap.  There hasn't been a single OS 
upgrade since I bought it - even though there are still a few bugs.

I love my 505 despite it's shortcomings, but I also know a good thing 
when I see it and that's the XL-7.  The 505 is a dead box.  It's 
already 5 years old.  Also, I should mention that almost every single 
505 has it's LCD display die at some point in it's short life.  I 
think I have one of the oldest 505's with an original display and 
mine started to die just this week.  I think the XL-7 is a much 
better product at this point in time.

Biomech


--- In xl7@y..., NOLAbar10der@a... wrote:
>  Hi everyone. A friend of mine wants to trade his 505 for my XL-7 
(plus cash). I have a couple of questions.

--- In xl7@y..., NOLAbar10der@a... wrote:
>  Hi everyone. A friend of mine wants to trade his 505 for my XL-7 
(plus cash). I have a couple of questions.
> 
>  I'm assuming that some of you are 505 expatriates. Has anyone used 
both units with SonarXL? Any advantages? Does one unit work better 
with Sonar than the other?  Alos, I'm running a Boss dr-202. Will 
it 'fit' better with the Roland or does it even make a difference? 
>  I know the 505 has hardware limitations (no expansion, shitty 
presets, etc). As stand-alone, does anyone have opinions about the 
machines vs. each other? I do like the sexy part-mixer on the 505, 
but I also like my 16 tracks on the XL, not mention the USB. 
> 
>    Thanks in advance, Brian

   505 is great fun, it's easy to use and the mixer is great.It's 
also very reliable. You can edit the sounds till your heart is 
content. Major advantage over xl7- you can record the mute settings 
ie to switch on and off during a song.Also in grid record mode the 
thing will actually 'hover' at the section you are recording.Watch 
out though , I don't know if this is still the case but at one time 
the smart media cards they use for back up etc were (and probably 
still aren't) conventional -meaning that their use was an expensive 
and difficult to find affair.(this should be your only area of 
concern)
            Bryan

I've used both extensively, and can honnestly say that the XL-7 is way 
better than the mc505 IMO.  I would not recommend trading at all.  And 
yes, the Smartmedia cards are becoming VERY had to find as Roland used 5v, 
instead of the more conventional 3.3v cards.  Keep The XL-7, you won't 
regret it.

rEalm




I know the 505 has hardware limitations (no expansion, shitty presets, 
etc). As stand-alone, does anyone have opinions about the machines vs. 
each other? I do like the sexy part-mixer on the 505, but I also like my 
16 tracks on the XL, not mention the USB.